"The mist" 

this is a spinoff of the forthcoming album dedicated to the hexatonal scale

credits

released July 9, 2024

music by

Marco Lucchi : organ and synthesizers
Henrik Meierkord : cello

"Lieder ohne Worte"

Marco Lucchi, based in Modena, Italy, and Henrik Meierkord, based in Stockholm, Sweden, have a lengthy collaboration to their reciprocal credit, and they accomplish it far and near alike. A testament to the interplay of their work together is that a listener might be hard-pressed to discern which of their recordings are the result of long-distance file-trading, and which occurred when the two managed to be in the same place at the same time.

Several aspects of their respective music-making serve them well as creative partners. First of all, both tend toward the ambient, given as they are generally to a slow pace and to a sensibility that manages to be at once radiant and intimate. Secondly, while both are multi-instrumentalists, there is a complementary nature to their specialties, Lucchi being more of a keyboardist, Meierkord more of a string player. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, they are both immersed in techniques drawn from electronic music.

In particular, both men are experienced with live multitrack recording, in which they process and layer their own performances in real time. Meierkord is fond of layering sinuous tones to create scenarios of unique dimensions. It becomes uncertain — even unimportant — to the listener what preceded what, so intricate is his deployment of interplay. Lucchi likewise finds parallels between classical orchestration and the opportunity for drones lent by modern synthesizers; in a small room he can create a vast space. There is often an oceanic depth to such efforts, part composed and part improvisatory, in which playing is a tool toward composition, rather than the other way around.

Throughout their new record, there is an underlying melancholy, a nostalgic beauty, and a reflective consideration — a virtue that is foundational to their ongoing collaboration. The result is particularly rich in plaintive scene setting, as on the glacially paced “La Bestia Umana”, which emerges from a neighborly field recording of a dog barking, and “Kosmisk Strålning”, which maintains a dream-like quietude, more shadow than light. One “Like Tears in Rain”, what sounds like a synthesizer is, in fact, a piano, a recording of which has been stretched beyond the point of it being readily identifiable.

On first listen, their leaning toward unimpeachable steadiness can seem uniform, but listen more closely and you’ll recognize how explicitly they emote on a track like “The Third Stage,” due not just to the reaching melodic surges (which, in turn, match the sampled recordings of bird calls) but to the slight discordances that suggest trouble and tension. In a different manner, there is “A Warm and Golden October,” which balances breaking-dawn hush with piercing overtones. That track features a motif at the end, played on a celesta; those bell-like tones edge the piece out of dreaminess without entirely breaking the spell.

The greatest outlier — dog barking notwithstanding — may be on “Oändlig”, not just for its fierce pulse, but because of its more immediately electronic vibe. “Oändlig” is an exceptional piece, bringing to mind the minimalism of Terry Riley and the rave classics of Underworld.

Marc Weidenbaum 

credits

released April 26, 2024

Produced and mixed by Marco Lucchi and Henrik Meierkord
Marco Lucchi: mellotron, piano, celesta and synthesizers
Henrik Meierkord: cello, viola, zither, piano, organ and FX
Mastered by Dionis Afonichev (Dionisaf)
Cover picture by Dionis Afonichev (Dionisaf) with AI
Artwork and cover design by Dionis Afonichev (Dionisaf)

www.chitrarecords.com

"Omnia florent"

 «Per quanto gli uomini, riuniti a centinaia di migliaia in un piccolo spazio, cercassero di deturpare la terra su cui si accalcavano, per quanto la soffocassero di pietre, perché nulla vi crescesse, per quanto estirpassero qualsiasi filo d’erba che riusciva a spuntare, per quanto esalassero fiumi di carbon fossile e petrolio, per quanto abbattessero gli alberi e scacciassero tutti gli animali e gli uccelli, la primavera era la primavera anche in città, il sole scaldava, l’erba, riprendendo vita, cresceva e rinverdiva ovunque non fosse strappata, non solo nelle aiuole dei viali, ma anche fra le lastre di pietra, e betulle, pioppi, ciliegi selvatici schiudevano le loro foglie vischiose e profumate, i tigli gonfiavano i germogli fino a farli scoppiare; le cornacchie, i passeri e i colombi con la festosità della primavera già preparavano nidi, e le mosche ronzavano vicino ai muri, scaldate dal sole. Allegre erano le piante, e gli uccelli, e gli insetti, e i bambini. Ma gli uomini, i grandi, gli adulti, non smettevano di ingannare e tormentare se stessi e gli altri. Gli uomini ritenevano che sacro e importante non fosse quel mattino di primavera, non quella bellezza del mondo di Dio, data per il bene di tutte le creature, la bellezza che dispone alla pace, alla concordia e all’amore, ma sacro e importante fosse quello che loro stessi avevano inventato per dominarsi gli uni sugli altri.»

(Incipit di “Resurrezione”, romanzo di Lev Tolstoj, Jasnaja Poljana 1889-1899)

credits

released April 9, 2024

music by
Marco Lucchi : organ, piano and synthesizer
anon8924 : vocaloid

"Le Joli C​œ​ur"

"Le Joli Cœur” is a re-issue of an album released by Webbed Hand Records in 2008
webbedhandrecords.com/wh115-oes-le-joli-coeur/

credits

released March 11, 2024

The music - commissioned for an exhibition of works by Jean Cocteau - is entirely based on the final piano cadenza of "Now nothing" by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

It features contributions by Simon Jeffes, Marco Lucchi, Roberto Corsini, Mario Nobile, Dario Derek Lucchi, Lucio Bosi, Giampaolo Violi, Giza (Bram de Jonge), Alejo Nobili, _ , Umiomiomiomio (Umio Miyazaki), Hidekazu Wakabayashi, Christian Vasseur, Jimmy Lolek, Rainier Lericolais, Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel (Scott Burland) and Louise Bronx.

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A project by Marco Lucchi

"A m​ú​sica, sim a m​ú​sica​.​.​.​" [piano patterns n​°​15]

 this is the seventh album dedicated to the second series of my 'piano patterns'

for further infos and to listen to the previous episodes, please go to
marcolucchi.bandcamp.com/album/piano-patterns
marcolucchi.bandcamp.com/album/a-inac-o-consola-de-tudo-piano-patterns-n-9
marcolucchi.bandcamp.com/album/a-liberdade-a-possibilidade-do-isolamento-piano-patterns-n-10
marcolucchi.bandcamp.com/album/viver-ser-outro-piano-patterns-n-11
marcolucchi.bandcamp.com/album/os-beijos-merecidos-da-verdade-piano-patterns-n-12
marcolucchi.bandcamp.com/album/a-gua-da-chuva-desce-a-ladeira-piano-patterns-n-13
marcolucchi.bandcamp.com/album/the-whole-constitution-of-my-spirit-is-one-of-hesitancy-and-of-doubt-piano-patterns-n-14

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A música, sim a música...
Piano banal do outro andar.
A música em todo o caso, a música..
Aquilo que vem buscar o choro imanenre
De toda a criatura humana
Aquilo que vem torturar a calma
Com o desejo duma calma melhor...
A música... Um piano lá em cima
Com alguém que o toca mal.
Mas é música...

Ah quantas infâncias tive!
Quantas boas mágoas?,
A música...
Quantas mais boas mágoas!
Sempre a música...
O pobre piano tocado por quem não sabe tocar.
Mas apesar de tudo é música.

Ah, lá conseguiu uma música seguida —
Uma melodia racional —
Racional, meu Deus!
Como se alguma coisa fosse racional!
Que novas paisagens de um piano mal tocado?
A música!... A música...!

Fernando Pessoa 

credits

released February 29, 2024

original piano composition by
Marco Lucchi

featuring reworks and re-interpretations from
M.Nomized
Pete Swinton
Mean Flow
Lärmschutz
Night Note
encym
Ostacoli Sonori
Wilfried Hanrath
idematoa
James Hill
sevenism

"fosfeni"

 

lampi di luce e di irrealtà

footages of wild movies

soundtrack for a film to come

sonic interferences

credits

released January 18, 2024

music by

Marco Lucchi : mellotron, piano, organ, synthesizers and found sounds

and

itwasthewires : modular synthesizers
idematoa : synthesizers
anon8924 : vocaloid and found sounds
Henrik Meierkord : cello

"La Musica è Sacra"

 

The album "La Musica è Sacra" is a studio remake of a performance given in Firenze in 2022, March 4th. Originally conceived as a tribute to the Italian songwriter Claudio Rocchi, it has become an ode to the spiritual power of Music.

credits*

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Amazing eclectic ambient orchestra. Seven artists from three countries: Marco Lucchi, Marco Billi aka Jarguna, Dario Derek Lucchi, Ilaria Boffa and Massimo Amato from Italy; Henrik Meierkord from Sweden, and Wilfried Hanrath from Germany.

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Marco Lucchi - mellotron, synthesizers and piano (1,2,4,5)

Marco Billi aka Jarguna - modular synthesizer and electronic percussions 

Henrik Meierkord - cello, zither and synthesizer (4,5)

Dario Derek Lucchi - french horn (1,2,5)

Wilfried Hanrath - bass, electric guitar and drums (1)

Ilaria Boffa - voice (5)

Massimo Amato - synthesizers (5)

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Mastered by Marco Lucchi
Picture by Dionis Afonichev (Dionisaf)
Artwork and cover design by Dionis Afonichev (Dionisaf)